Phonograph record case



A11g 28, 1956 w. N. MARTIN 2,760,839

PHONOGRAEH RECORD CASE Filed March 15, 1954 Ely' "5' INVENTOR.

United States Patent 2,760,839 PHONOGRAPH RECORD CASE Warren N. Martin, Prairie Village, Kans. Application March 15, 1954, Serial No. 416,139 6 Claims. (Cl. 312-10) This invention relates to a case or storage container for phonograph records of the disc-type, or other l articles which are normally withdrawn from the case and replaced from time to time, the primary object being to provide control mechanism for the case permitting withdrawal of the records or the like in a manner to facilitate removal and replacement thereof.

l t is the most important object of the present invention to provide in a case of the aforementioned character, control mechanism that is operable to extend the articles contained in the case to an echelon disposition outside the case where the articles may be easily selected and removed entirely from the case by the user.

Another important object of the present invention is the provision of control mechanism for cases of the aforementioned character that includes control bars having fingers disposed to engage and move the articles contained by the case along elongated grooves Within which the articles are disposed in such manner as to dispose the articles in overlapped staggered arrangement as just above set forth.

A further object of this invention is to provide a case for phonograph records or the like having a control mechanism that includes an actuator that is in turn manipulated by a manual lever, the actuator being coupled with the control bars by virtue of additionaliingers on the bars and extending into slots formed in the actuator itself.

Other objects include the way in which the said control bars are each provided with a pair of spaced lingers extending in opposite directions, one through a slot in a support for the articles, the other through a slot in the actuator; the way in which the slots in the actuator progressively increase in length as one side of the actuator is approached so as to dispose the articles of the case in echelon as above-mentioned; and many additional objects including still further important details of construction, all of which will be made clear or become apparent as the following specification progresses.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a front perspective view of-a phonograph record case made pursuant to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, front elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, transverse, cross-sectional View taken on line III--III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 4 Abut showing the control mechanism ina different position; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, detailed, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken on line Vl-VI of Fig. 4.

While the case having the novel control mechanism of the present invention and which is broadly designated by the numeral 1li in the drawing, may have many uses so far as containing differing types of articles is concerned, it has been designed primarily for receiving phonograph records of the disc-type, and for convenience of description, reference will hereinafter be made to articles 12 as phonograph records contained within suitable and conventional envelopes, boxes or the like.

Case 1l) may include a pair of side Walls 14 and 16, a rear wall i8, a top wall 2l) and a bottom wall 22. Case lll is shown open at that end thereof opposite to rear wall 18 but may be provided with a suitable door` or other closure if desired.

l 2,760,839 ice Patented Aug. 28, 1956 An elongated member 24 is disposed along the inner face of top wall 2l) and may be secured within the case lil in any suitable manner, not shown. `Member 24 extends throughout the length of the top wall 20 and is provided With a plurality of longitudinal, vdownwardly extending grooves 26. A second member in the nature of a support and designated by the numeral 2S, is coextensive with the length of the bottom wall 22 upon which it rests and may likewise be rigidly secured within the case 10 in any suitable manner. The support 28 is provided with longitudinally extending, upwardly facing grooves lill, there being a groovell corresponding to each groove 26 respectively, and manifestly, the said pairs of grooves 26 and 30 slidably receive the articles 12 which extend from the grooves 30 upwardly `and into the grooves 26.

The control mechanism forming the subject matter of the instant invention and which is adapted to cause movement of the articles l2 to the echelon position illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing, includes an elongated, manually operated lever 32 extending forwardly through an opening 34S in the support 28 and conveniently provided with an upturned ngerpiece 36 on the outermost free end thereof. The innermost end of the lever 32 is fixed in any suitable manner to a polygonal, plate-like actuator 38 reciprocable longitudinally of the support 2S within a cavity 42 in the lower face thereof, and a plurality of elongated control bars 44 are disposed between the actuator 3S and the lower face of the support 28.

Bars 44 are substantially Z-shaped in that each is provided with an upturned nger 46 at one end thereof and a downturned linger 4S at the opposite end thereof. The bars 44 are all preferably of equal length and the lingers 46 and 48 are each T-shaped to the end that fingers 48 are retained in elongated slots Si) formed in the actuator 38 and the fingers 46 are retained in elongated slots 52 formed in the support 28. Actuator 38 has a cavity 54 in the lower face thereof to clear the fingers 48 and as best seen in Fig. 5, fingers 48 which slide freely in the slots 50, partially overlap the lower face of the actuator 38 within cavity 54.

The slots 5l] progressively increasing in length as one side of the actuator 3S is approached, are disposed in parallelism with the reciprocable path of travel of the actuator 38 along the cavity 42. The slots 52 are likewise parallel, there being a slot 52 registering with each groove 30 respectively, at the rearmost end of the support 28 adjacent the rear wall 18. It is noted that the slots 52 also progressively increase in length as one side of the support 28 is approached and that the shortest slots 52 correspond to the longest slots S0.

The fingers 46 extend through the support 2S within the slots 52 and upwardly into the grooves 36 therebeyond and between guides 56 therefor, forming a p-art of the support 23 and projecting upwardly above the grooves 30. The lengths of the guides 56 may be limited to the extent of reciprocable movement of the fingers 46 as shown in Fig. 6.

It is now seen, as shown in Fig. 4, that when the lever 32 is at the innermost end of its path of travel with the iingerpiece 36 adjacent the forwardmost end of support 28, actuator 38 is at the innermost end of its path of travel as are all of the bars 44- which are stopped by the rear wall '18 of the case 1t). Furthermore, as observed in Fig. 4, the fingers 4S are in `alignment adjacent the forwardmost ends of the slots S0. When it is desired to withdraw the articles 12 from within case lil, it is but necessary to grasp the lingerpiece 36 and pull outwardly upon the lever 32 to the position shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing. As the actuator 38 moves toward the forwardmost end of the case 10, the bar 44 corresponding to the shortest slot 50, will be the first to move forwardly and the bar 44 corresponding to the longest slot 50, will be the last bar 44 to commence moving as the actuator 38 moves toward the front end of the case 10. When the lever 32 is fully withdrawn as limited by the lingers 46 coming into engagement ywith the forwardmost ends of slots 52, all of the fingers 46, as well as all of the lingers 48, will be disposed in echelon as shown in Fig. 5, and manifestly, the articles 12 will also extend beyond the open end of case in an echelon arrangement as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3. Since the articles 12 extend progressively further from the case 10, each may be selected and entirely removed from the case 10 without ditiiculty.

Conversely, when the articles 12 are all returned to the case 10, they may be pushed inwardly along the grooves 26 and 30, and since the bars 44, the actuator' 38 and the lever 32 areall freely reciprocable, the control mechanism, as well as all of the articles 12, may be easily forced to position the bars 44 and the actuator 38, as shown in Fig. 4.

The importance of the guides 56 is not to be overlooked for, while `articles 12 are substantially equal in height to the distance between grooves 26 and 30, suicient looseness of t should be provided to assure freedom of inward and outward movement of the articles 12. Thus, as the lingers 46 exert a force upon the articles 12 at the lowermost and rearmost corners of the articles 12, the latter may have a tendency to become displaced out of their grooves 30. Since the guides 56 extend upwardly well beyond the bottoms of grooves 30, they effectively prevent such displacement of articles 12 as the same are moved in either direction, but particularly when lever 32 is pulled to withdraw the articles 12 from case 10.

While many details of construction have necessarily been explained for a full understanding of the principles of the present invention, it is appreciated that many changes and modiiications may be made within the spirit of the invention and, therefore, it is desired to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to `be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. Control mechanism of the kind described including an elongated support provided with a plurality of longitudinal grooves in one face thereof and an elongated, longitudinal slot in each groove respectively at one end of the support; an actuator reciprocable longitudinally of the support along the opposite face thereof and provided with an elongated slot corresponding to each slot respectively of the support, and disposed in parallelism with the path of travel of the actuator; and a plurality of elongated bars interposed between the actuator and said opposite face of the support, each bar having spaced, oppositely-extending lingers, one extending through a slot in the support and into a groove, and one extending into a slot in the actuator.

2. Control mechanism of the kind described including an elongated support provided with a plurality of longitudinal grooves in one face thereof and an elongated, longitudinal slot in each groove respectively at one end of the support; :an actuator reciprocable longitudinally of the support along the opposite face thereof and provided with an elongated slot corresponding to each slot respectively of the support, and disposed in parallelism with the path of travel of the actuator; and a plurality of elongated bars interposed between the actuator and said opposite face of the support, each bar having spaced, oppositely-extending lingers, one extending through a slot in the support ,and into a groove, and one extending into a slot in the actuator, said iingers being equally spaced and said slots in the actuator progressively increasing in length as one side of the actuator is approached.

3. In a case of the kind described, a hollow body provided with an elongated member at the top thereof having a number of longitudinal, downwardly-facing grooves;

. an elongated support at the bottom of the body having a plurality of upwardly-facing grooves in the uppermost face thereof, and an elongated, longitudinal slot in each groove respectively at one end of the support; an actuator reciprocable longitudinally of the support 4along the opposite face thereof and provided with an elongated slot corresponding to each slot respectively of the support, and disposed in parallelism with the path of travel of the actuator; and a plurality of elongated bars interposed between the actuator and said opposite face of the support, each bar having spaced, oppositely-extending fingers, one extending through a slot in the support and into a groove, and one extending into a slot in the actuator.

4. ln a case of the kind described, a hollow body pro vided with an elongated member at the top thereof having a number of longitudinal, downwardly-facing grooves; an elongated support at the bottom of the body having a plurality of upwardly-facing grooves in the uppermost face thereof, and an elongated, longitudinal slot in each groove respectively at one end of the support; an actuator reciprocable longitudinally of the support along the opposite face thereof and provided with an elongated slot corresponding to each slot respectively of the support, and disposed in parallelism with the path of travel of the actuator; a plurality of elongated bars interposed between the actuator and said opposite face of the support, each bar having spaced, oppositely-extending ngers, one extending through a slot in the support and into a groove, and one extending into a :slot in the actuator, said fingers being equally spaced and said slots in the actuator progressively increasing in length as one side of the actuator is approached; and a manual control lever coupled with the actuator and extending to the opposite end of the support.

5. in a case of the kind described, a hollow body pr vided with an elongated member at the top thereof having a number of longitudinal, downwardly-facing grooves; an elongated support at the bottom of the body having a plurality of upwardly-facing grooves in the uppermost face thereof, and an elongated, longitudinal slot in each groove respectively at one end of the support; an actuator reciprocable longitudinally of the support along the opposite face thereof and provided with an elongated slot corresponding to each yslot respectively of the support, and disposed in parallelism with the path of travel of the actuator; a plurality of elongated bars interposed between the actuator and said opposite face of the support, each bar having spaced, oppositely-extending lingers, one extending through a slot in the support and into a groove, and one extending into a slot in the actuator; and article guide means on the support at said one end thereof and extending upwardly beyond the groove-s of the support for embracing articles within the grooves when the articles are fully contained in the body.

6. Control mechanism of the kind described including an article-receiving support having a plurality of elongated `slots; an actuator reciprocable along the support; a plurality of control bars each having a finger extending through a slot and engageable with an article on the support for moving the article as the linger moves in one direction; and means for operably connecting the actuator with the bars and moving the latter as the actuator is reciprocated, the lengths of the slots in the support progressively decreasing as one side of the support is approached, said means including parts on each control bar and engageable with the actuator in succession as the latter is moved in said one direction and as the lengths of the slots decrease.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,145,712 Stevens July 6, 1915 1,258,498 Stuebing Mar. 5, 1918 1,321,010 Chernak Nov. 4, 1919 1,327,142 Call Jan. 6, 1920 

